Your questions answered

The UKRI Economic and Social Research Council is funding the study.

The UK part of the study is led by researchers from University College London (UCL) and Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU). Ipsos, an independent research company, will collect the data.

If you are living in England, your child was chosen at random from the National Pupil Database held by the Department for Education. The Department for Education gave us special permission to access the names and addresses of the selected children in Year 4 so we could contact them via their parents/legal guardians.

In Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, families are being contacted through their child’s school. Parents and legal guardians of children in Year 4 (or equivalent) are asked to complete a brief online survey to provide Ipsos with their contact information.

The selection process was designed to reflect the diversity of children in the UK. Each child chosen is unique and cannot be replaced.

The pilot study aims to interview approximately 100 children and one of their parents or legal guardians in England and 50 households each in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

No, information about who participated in the survey will not be shared with your child’s school. Participating schools in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales will be informed if anyone in the year group expressed interest, but no details or personal information will be shared with the school. Any school that receives expressed interest from any participant, will receive £100.

In-home interviews are starting in early November.

The pilot fieldwork will run for approximately 7 weeks from January to March.

We only need consent to conduct the interview from one of their parents or legal guardians. You are more than welcome to mention the study to the child other parent.

If you have twins or triplets who are in the same year at school, we will select one of them to take part in the study. This is to ensure that no family has too long an interview.

In England, one child will have already been selected at random from the National Pupil Database and the interviewer will be able to tell you which child has been selected.

If you are in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales and have expressed interest via the online questionnaire, we will select one of your children at random to take part.

You and your child are still eligible to participate in the study.

The study is not limited to just biological or birth parents. Any parent, carer or guardian who lives with the child is allowed to participate.

Interviews will be conducted in your home as face-to-face visits.

Interviews will take place early 2026. Interviewers will be flexible with appointment times to fit around your family’s schedule, including early evenings and weekends.

The parent interview includes questions about your family, your child’s activities, and covers some sensitive topics including pregnancy and birth as well as partner relationships which can be completed privately on a computer that will be provided by the interviewer.

We would want you or another parent or legal guardian to be present while we interview your child.

The child interview focuses on their experiences as a child and their family life. It does cover some sensitive topics like wellbeing and bullying.

The interview can be paused or stopped at any time, and with you present throughout your child’s interview, you can intervene if needed. Your child’s wellbeing is the priority.

Welsh translations will be available for materials in Wales. Interviewer and within household translations (for example being assisted by another family member) for Welsh participants will be allowed, but standardised Welsh translation of the full questionnaire is not planned.

All interviewers are professionally trained, and will carry an Ipsos ID card. You can verify their identity by contacting Ipsos using the freephone number or email provided at the end of these FAQs.

Yes – if you provide your contact details when expressing interest, or when you get the letter with the interviewer’s contact details, then interviewers can call you first to arrange an appointment. They can then follow up on the day to let you know they are still able to attend.

As a thank you for taking part, you will be given a £20 voucher (as a gift card or e-voucher) and your child will be given a £10 voucher (as a gift card or e-voucher) and a special certificate to recognise their participation.

Taking part is your choice. You and/or your child can say no at any time before, during, or after the interview. The interviewer will remind you of this and will ask for consent from both you and your child before starting. You can also skip any questions you don’t want to answer without giving a reason.

GUIDE is designed as a longitudinal cohort study, meaning it follows families over time. While this pilot is testing procedures, the main study would involve following up with families in the future. You’ll be asked for consent to be re-contacted in case we have any follow up questions about the survey, but we will not be following you or your child over time.

The study seeks consent for data linkage to health, education, and social care records, which are held by government agencies. This helps researchers obtain more detailed information without asking lots of additional questions. You will be provided with more information about this during the interview and asked for your consent for this – it’s optional and you can still participate without agreeing to data linkage.

No – your answers will be kept private and confidential. The only exception is if someone tells us that they are being seriously harmed or ill-treated. In that case, we may have to tell relevant services to keep them safe.

We will store the information you give us securely and keep it confidential, in line with the guidelines of the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK General Data Protection Regulations. Your personal details – such as your name and address – will always be stored separately from your survey answers – and will never be shared outside of the direct study team. Your personal details will be stored only so long as it is required for the research project.

The answers from the survey will be shared securely in a de-identified format (without your name or contact details) for researchers who are conducting legitimate research on children in the public interest. If you decide you want to withdraw from the study and want us to remove your data, then please get in touch with us within 30 days from the date of the interview.

Ipsos provides multiple ways to get in touch, this includes:

• Email: UK-PA-GUIDE@ipsos.com
• Freephone 0800 0688 055

These details are also provided in your invitation letter. A dedicated helpline is set up to respond to queries. You can also contact your interviewer directly using the details they provide.